Artificial Willpower

Honest Truth

I'm so sorry for the delay on this one! I got accepted to write for a podcast and the deadline for the season one episodes was way earlier then I thought it'd be so I got caught up with that and then I got a new job and jkdjkldsfjsdf life has just been life, yknow? Got a new chapter tho! And I hope to get more consistant with writing again. Thank you for your patience! 

Also, check out the discord! We have a lot of fun over there https://discord.gg/VBd4Efgv

J and the rest of his group had been stuck in the facility for days. Or at least J assumed it had been days. It was hard to gauge time there. No windows except for the small square one on the door, no clocks... And that was also assuming the rest of his group was even still alive. No one had talked to him since the interrogations. Sometimes someone would bring in food but they would never answer his word vomit of questions. The biggest one being what were they going to do to the group?

J had his theories, but he didn't want to be right.

With nothing but his anxieties and the silence to keep him company, he would be lying if he said it wasn't taking a toll on his psyche. A long while later he heard shouting, which he had noticed wasn't that uncommon in that awful place, but he recognized that voice. It was S.

"I-I was the one who found the MIC! You can't do this to me, I'm why you all got even close to catching them! I swear!"

J rushed over to the tiny excuse for the window on his door, to see two guards dragging S down the hall as he shouted and thrashed. The guards didn't even acknowledge what he was saying, and S was always the least athletic and strong out of the group. His struggling did nothing to even slow the guards.

J wanted so desperately to help. To get S and the rest out of there, but when S looked over and their eyes locked for a moment, his shoulders slumped and the panic in his eyes gave way to a passive desperation. J was certain his expression matched. This was the end, and they both knew it at that moment.

S... no, Steven. If they were all going to die, J, Jason, wasn't going to spend his last hours thinking about his closest friends and himself as singular letters and business partners.

Steven, a technological genius he had spent his childhood playing video games with. F, Freddy, a party animal he had met in college who wasn't actually attending college but still crashed all the parties. P, Peter, a strong protective friend who treated the rest like younger siblings. A group where everyone had lost everything in one way or another, and so they banded together and used their skills to survive and make a living.

They had always known it could end bad. It wasn't a safe job, of course. Enemies to be made, mistakes that could easily get you killed or arrested... but this was one end he had never expected.

Before he could comprehend it, Steven was already out of sight, dragged down the hall. Jason already knew he would probably never see him again.

—

"Do youse have another hideout?" Yancy asked after he caught his breath from his last run on the makeshift obstacle course. His time had been improving significantly. He started to feel like he was actually doing better than he would have before the operation, which was a realization that he had very mixed feelings on.

"Kinda a random question. What's on your mind?" Illinois asked, looking up from the piece of paper he had been writing Yancy's times on.

"I dunno, with us makin our next move so soon, and makin all this public I guess I'm a bit worried the search itself is gonna get more public, if that makes any sense? Like they gotta be hush hush 'bout it but when we tell everyone, what's stopin them from getting a lot more loud and aggressive with their search for us? I just wanna be ready to get movin again I guess"

"I really am wearing off on you" Illinois said with a small laugh "But yes, I get your concerns. It's... likely that after we start getting on the offensive instead of just staying on the defensive that they're going to cross a lot of lines. Unfortunately I don't have another comfortable building for us to hide in. Honestly I hadn't really expected to have to use this place. MIC chips aren't really something people think to look for."

"Oh... so if they find us we's screwed..?"

"Of course not Yancy, you should know me well enough by now to know I have some sort of plan" he said, playfully elbowing him "I'm just saying it won't be as comfortable as this. I've got some camping gear ready to go. We could get it in the car after so we can be ready to go at any moment, if that would make you feel safer. And I got a paper map with locations across the country I've done research on and think would be a decent place to camp for a few nights. If they find us here, I'd prefer to be moving until all this is over. We'd be roughing it but I think we'd stay pretty safe."

Yancy relaxed. He had known Illinois most likely had a plan but to hear it really helped ease his anxieties. "Alright... good. And uh... thanks for tellin me. I understand why youse kept me in the dark before, but I really appreciate youse not doin that anymore"

Illinois hesitated before saying "It wasn't right of me. I should have been upfront with everything. About what I wanted you to help me do, about my part in all of this. I know being upfront with everything now doesn't automatically make it better but I want you to know you can ask me anything and I'll be honest. You didn't deserve to be lied to like that"

Yancy sat down on the ground, leaning against a tree "I mean I get it. I wouldn't wanna tell a murderer who just got bionic limbs it was technically my fault either" He said with a dry laugh.

"I never meant it like that-"

"But I get it, '' Yancy said, looking at Illinois. "Youse a great guy, Illinois. I don't hold it against youse. But when youse first came to me in the woods, I noticed the safe distance youse kept. The way youse kept youses hands in view. Everythin youse did to make sure I didn't see youse as a threat. People do that a lot when they think youse dangerous, I learned that fast after I killed 'em."

Illinois' face fell. He looked sad. Guilty. Which made Yancy feel guilty for killing the mood.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up"

"No, it's okay Yancy. I guess I've never really thought about how that would feel." He said, sitting beside him. "I promised you honesty. So.... the honest truth was yes, I was a little scared. I had done extensive research on you, just like I had every other prisoner they had taken in for that project. I saw the evidence that you were sorry. And that you really were just a scared kid when it all happened. And... I was watching the security cams when... you know. I saw the look of horror on your face after it happened, and I knew you couldn't be a monster. But I also knew that you're... capable of a lot, when you're scared. And I knew if I was going to do this, I needed to do everything I could to make you feel safe otherwise... I could really be in danger. But I never thought of you as some blood thirsty monster. You were just scared.

And later, when you found that room, and were scared again... I was worried. Really worried. But then I could see where you snapped out of that scared state and stopped letting it control you. When you decided to let me go. I was so proud of you Yancy. It was proof that even though it had just been a week, you had grown so much. And now I'm not scared of you at all."

Yancy thought for a long moment before saying "Youse promise?"

"I promise. Yancy, I trust you with my life. And that's the honest truth"